O's Shortcuts to Simplify Your Life

Finish Errands in a Flash

Taking a left-hand turn on a busy two-way street can be a maddening time suck—minutes tick by as you sit, idling, with your blinker on. UPS drivers avoid this by taking right turns whenever possible. The company has developed a software program that maps out delivery routes using a majority of right turns—a move that last year helped save the company about 3 million gallons of fuel and shaved more than 28 million miles off their routes. UPS employees now use this trick on their off-hours and swear that it can trim at least a minute from each errand—and five errands an hour means five to 10 minutes' worth of saved time.

UPS spokesperson and confirmed right-turner Lynnette McIntire says she borrows yet another trick from the company's drivers, who are trained to put their key rings on their pinky finger when they exit the truck. "It saves me so much time," she says. "If you're carrying groceries, you don't have to dig in your purse for keys—they're right there on your little finger."